Salem is a city located in Essex County, Massachusetts. It is infamous as the location of the notorious Salem Witch Trials of the late 17th century. During the colonial era, there were more than one-hundred and fifty counts of alleged witchcraft that were investigated by the authorities and twenty-six women were convicted and sentenced as witches. The tale of the witches was made into a play by Arthur Miller in 1952 called The Crucible. The Crucible was later adapted into a film in 1996 starring Winona Ryder. The 2006 "male witch" film The Covenant, though not set in Salem, draws heavily from the story of the Salem Witch Trials.